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Good investment

Clean Ohio conservation program remains popular even in tough times

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Tuesday April 3, 2012 6:03 AM

Ohio lawmakers who are considering more spending for the Clean Ohio conservation program this
year seem to be heeding voters’ clear wishes.

Voters in 2008 weighed in at nearly 70 percent in favor of issuing a second round
of $400 million in bonds to continue the program, which provides funding for cleaning up polluted
industrial sites, preserving farmland and park land and providing recreational trails. Ohioans
clearly were happy with the results of the original program, which was approved by 57 percent of
voters in 2000.

Part of the appeal has been that no tax increase is required to pay off the
bonds.

Gov. John Kasich’s 2012-13 budget allowed some spending for Clean Ohio brownfield
cleanup and for administering ongoing projects, but the state hasn’t borrowed any of the $100
million the 2008 vote authorized for the conservation categories. The just-passed capital budget
calls for $6 million in such spending, only to maintain existing trails, but a number of lawmakers
want to see more.

Columbus-area Sens. Jim Hughes and Kevin Bacon, both Republicans, know the
conservation spending is popular; they see it as an economic-development tool and have said they’d
like to see some spending authorized in a future bill.

“I’d like it to be in the capital budget, but if not, we have a lot of
members of our caucus that support it,” Bacon said. “I know we have a meager budget, but we should
prioritize it, and this should rise to the top.”

Democratic Rep. Charleta Tavares of Columbus said Clean Ohio is supported by people
across the political spectrum “because they know it drives economic and community development.”

Since 2000, Clean Ohio Fund money has helped preserve 26,000 acres of natural areas
and 40,000 acres of family farms, as well as creating over 216 miles of recreational
trails. Franklin County received $20.7 million, which was used to leverage $12 million more for 43
conservation and trail projects.

Voters still value the program, even in tough times. A May 2011 poll commissioned
by The Nature Conservancy , which lobbied for the original Clean Ohio Fund, found that
56 percent say the state should follow through with the authorized borrowing, while 38 percent say
it should hold off.

Kasich’s careful budgeting has pulled Ohio out of a fiscal morass and boosted
revitalization of the state’s economy, and his cautious approach to further borrowing is
commendable. He has earned trust as a good steward of the state’s finances. As he continues his
efforts to balance the state’s needs against its limited means, he should keep in mind that Clean
Ohio is a program that enjoys widespread support from the public and from lawmakers on both sides
of the aisle.